Oxford's difficult, hard-to-answer questions revealed

It’s hard not to hear of the infamous Oxford interview and the university has revealed sample interview questions for prospective students.

Economics interview: Do Bankers deserve the pay they receive? And should government do something to limit how much they get?

Engineering interview: Place a 30cm ruler on top of one finger from each hand. What happens when you bring your fingers together?

If you’re interested in applying to the University of Oxford, you can expect some of these “unanswerable” questions thrown at you during the interview. Since there is no RIGHT answer, the admissions panel are looking out for how an applicant thinks and responds to new or strange concepts.

Oxford's admissions chief, Dr Samina Khan explained: “We know there are still lots of myths about the Oxford interview, so we put as much information as possible out there to allow students to see behind the hype to the reality of the process."

We hope that seeing some of the less obvious questions will reassure prospective applicants that tutors simply want to see how students think and respond to new ideas – we are not interested in catching students out.”

The university claims it isn’t trying to “catch anyone out” but instead is “allowing students to shine”.

See more sample interview questions for the University of Oxford below:

If you could invent a new musical instrument what kind of sound would it make?

If you could save either the rainforests or the coral reefs, which would you choose?

A fan of anime and all things Japanese, Khai has been writing professionally since 2010 and “unofficially” for much longer. In her free time, you will often find her baking, reading, travelling and doing everything else in between.